Topic: Restoration CD

[joudi]

Hello to all,

    I would like to know if there is a way or an interesting site which explains in a simple way "HOW TO MAKE A PERSONAL RESTORATION CD" like the one that we almost all get when buying a new computer.

    Is it simple to create one or it is too much coplicated to someone beginner like me, and perhaps reserved especially to professionals?

                     Thanks for your answers.

[Sandra]

I dont think you can make a "Restore" CD as such that works in the same way as the ones that come with some PCs with ME preinstalled on them Joudi.
You could possibly use a program such as Powerquests Drive Image(see link below},or possibly Norton Ghost although I dont know if Ghost will actually do what you want for restoring your OS(I never knew that Powerquest did either but it says it will do it on their site).
Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me about these things can confirm that it does as it says it can  


http://peripherals.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.powerquest.com/

[Adept]

If you want to create a proper restore CD which restores your PC back to a "clean installation" you have to begin with your PC in this state in the first place i.e. do a clean installation and back that up.

I'm not sure about Windows 98, but I think the Windows 2000 and XP backup programs are capable of making a backup to CD along with a floppy disk to boot from in order to provide a disaster recovery system.

I've never used it, so I'm not really sure if it is suitable for your requirements though.

[Sandra]

Wouldnt that just be the same as completely wiping the drive and doing another clean install Adept?

I think that with those drive image programs you may be able to do a restore to the last time you made an image wouldnt you?

I dont understand how it can see the boot sector of the drive to copy and enable that to be replaced so that it can restore it though  

[Adept]

Wouldnt that just be the same as completely wiping the drive and doing another clean install Adept?

Well yeah execpt that if you did it again, you'd be able to do it from the backup instead. To make it work properly, you should be prepared to make a backup as soon as you have a working clean install.

I think that with those drive image programs you may be able to do a restore to the last time you made an image wouldnt you?

There is no reason why you couldn't do it at any time, it's just that on a more heavily used system there are more programs and data installed, making the backup/image tedious.

I dont understand how it can see the boot sector of the drive to copy and enable that to be replaced so that it can restore it though  

Imaging software either uses DOS or it's own file system to restore to the drive. Therefore it can write whatever it likes to the drive without Windows getting in the way.

[Sandra]

Well yeah execpt that if you did it again, you'd be able to do it from the backup instead. To make it work properly, you should be prepared to make a backup as soon as you have a working clean install.

So if you did it after a clean install and added your e mail,ISP connection details and programs like MSN messenger,you could just reinstall those and any other "must have programs" without having to search for the usernames and passwords etc without having to type in  all the deatils again?

[Adept]

I'm pretty sure that's how it works yes Sandra

[Sandra]

I wish you had told me that 12 months ago,it would have saved me a lot of hassle  

[Tony]

Are we talking about a reinstall after say a failed hard drive?

If so I would imagine that if you had done a backup of C: Drive on to a CD using PowerQuest's Drive Image. You could then do a clean install of the OS, and just copy back the saved image of C: Drive.

 
On the other hand if it is just a case of restoring your system after you have cocked up, then the following works fine.

I had a Compaq PC with a version of PQ's Drive Image incoperated into it. This automaticaly partitioned and automaticaly adjusted that partition as needed on your C:Drive. It then saved a compressed image of C:Drive on to that partition [you had to do this manually]. Which enabled you to revert back to the last saved image of C:Drive if you cocked up. Of course you had to remember to backed it up on a regulare basis, and the latest backup wiped the previous backup off.

But better than the last use explained for Drive Image, is Nortons newly aquired 'GoBack' [bought from Roxia just recently]

It automatically saves an image of your C: Drive and any partions therein. All you do is press the 'Goback' icon in the tool bar and it gives you options to revert back to a period in time, be it 10 mins, an hour,two hours, 6 hours, start of the day, yesterday, day before yesterday...get the picture. Great for sorting bad downloads or driver or program installs, or you mucking the registary up   or deleting files you did not mean too.  

But like the last explained usage of Drive Image, if the hard drive fails it cannot do a restore.

Hope this helps

[Sandra]

Thats how I though that programs such as Norton Ghost worked Tony,just to copy yor files etc.
If I understand what Adept is saying though you could use Powerquests drive imaging programs to reinstall(after wiping your hard drive or replacing it)your OS and some programs and other data from cd/s in one go rather than reinstalling the OS and then your other programs and settings for ISP and e mail etc.  

[Sandra]

Surely if the hard drive was wiped or a new one fitted it would need an OS on it to be able to place the drive image back on to the hard drive wouldnt it  

Who started this thread   >

[Tony]

I must go to the Powerquest site and read up on it some time. Do you mean, you think Adept means, that it would install it's self back, OS and all from the saved copy onto an empty but formated hard drive?

Now that would be clever, but like I have said before I'm not that clued up on the black art of software programing, infact I'm a dummy.  

[Sandra]

Thats how I read it Tony but as in my earlier post I cant see how you could get the hard drive to access the image on the CD if it didnt have an OS on at all,it would at least have to be a bootable CD that the image was stored on.
This is getting really confusing yet intrigueing now isnt it  

[Adept]

Oh come on keep up at the back there!

The clue here is in the word image. This implies that the backup taken of the disk partition isn't just a bunch of files, but is one file contaning an exact replica of the data on the drive.

Supplied with Norton Ghost and presumably all the other programs is a boot disk which contains a program that will write the image file back to the hard drive.

All you do then is reboot the machine and as if by magic your operating system starts.

Is that clear enough?

[Sandra]

It is indeed boss  

So would it work for an XP system that way and does it compress the image to a much smaller size than the original partition takes up on the hard drive